Smithsonian To Honor First Black Combat Pilot

October 11, 1992|By Michael Kilian, Chicago Tribune.

WASHINGTON — In solemn ceremonies Wednesday, the Smithsonian Institution will honor posthumously the first black American combat pilot, probably the most unsung hero in the history of U.S. wartime aviation.

Although Eugene Bullard flew more than 20 missions against the Germans over the Western Front in World War I, few Americans have heard of him. That may be because Bullard, nicknamed ``the Black Swallow of Death,`` flew his missions with French forces; U.S. units barred him because he was black.

Barring Bullard ``was a great injustice,`` said Dom Pisano, deputy chairman of the Smithsonian Institution`s National Air and Space Museum aeronautic department.

Bullard`s feats occurred 25 years before Gen. Benjamin Davis and his now- famous Tuskeegee airmen broke the color barrier in World War II to become the country`s first official black combat pilots.

``Gen. Davis and his pilots broke the color barrier and proved to everyone that they were the equal of white pilots flying combat in World War II,`` Pisano said. ``But they had to train in segregated units and fly in segregated units. It was rough, but Eugene Bullard was the precursor of all of them. He must have been quite a man.``

Pisano said Bullard was born in poverty in Columbus, Ga., in 1894, a time when Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan were in full reign. To escape this hostile racial climate, Bullard stowed away on a ship to Scotland, making his way to France via England while supporting himself with odd jobs.

When World War I broke out, the 20-year-old Bullard enlisted immediately in the French Foreign Legion. He subsequently was transferred to a regular army unit and was twice wounded in 1916 at the months-long Battle of Verdun, a dreadful carnage in which thousands of lives were often sacrificed just to gain a gun turret or few yards of ground.

Recovering, he went back into action, and was wounded twice again, Pisano said.

This time Bullard was hospitalized and given a medical discharge because he`d been so badly injured, but in early 1917, he re-enlisted as a trainee in the French air service, which had suffered severe losses and desperately needed pilots.

After the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, Bullard and all of the other American pilots in the Lafayette Escadrile and other French units filled out official requests to transfer to American squadrons. Only Bullard`s was rejected.

After an argument with his commanding officer that cost him his post in the French air service, Bullard finished the war a civilian.

Between the two world wars, he was a jazz drummer in Paris and also operated a nightclub. He fought with the French army again when the Nazis invaded in 1940 and subsequently worked with the French underground. In 1943 he was back in the U.S., working as a perfume salesman in New York.

In 1947 he returned to Paris to try to reclaim his nightclub from others who had taken it over during the war. After a long court fight, he eventually was paid a small compensation but his property was not returned.

Bullard ended up an elevator operator in New York`s RCA Building, where he was discovered and interviewed on the ``Today`` show by its then-host, Dave Garroway.

In 1954 he took part in ceremonies at the Arc de Triomphe in which he relighted the flame on the tomb of France`s unknown soldier. Although disdained by the U.S. military, France awarded Bullard the Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire, among many other decorations. He also was decorated for his work with the Free French underground in World War II.

Bullard retired in 1959 and died in New York two years later. He was married and had two daughters, Jacqueline Hernandez and Lolita Robinson, and two grandchildren.

In Wednesday night`s ceremonies, a bust of Bullard will be unveiled and installed in a special alcove in the museum`s permanent World War I exhibition. Davis is expected to attend, and Bullard`s family is expected to be represented at the ceremonies.